Courtesy Photo | Pvt. Simon Nichols, a cable systems installer-maintainer with the 158th Maneuver...... read more read more
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PHOENIX – Arizona National Guard Soldiers expect to face battles, but one Soldier is in a battle she never expected.
Three days after marrying her high school sweetheart, Pvt. 2 Simona Nichols, a cable systems installer-maintainer with the 158th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. Her grandmother is a breast cancer survivor, but her mother lost her battle with cancer at a very young age.
“Hearing those words, ‘You have cancer’ really played a toll on me. Immediately, I feared the worst for my three children,” Nichols said.
Nichols is in a battle for her life as she faces breast cancer, but she is not doing it alone.
She had only been in her unit for two months when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but her unit rallied around her, Nichols said.
“I am amazed at how supportive my unit has been because they really didn’t know me; I went to two drills and then started treatment,” Nichols said. “They have visited me at my house and Maj. Bradley Walgren [158th MEB Chaplain] came to the hospital when I was in the intensive care unit.”
Nichols said even though she was a new Soldier her unit reached out to her, everyone from her squad leader to upper leadership, to see if she needed anything, donate money and help her find resources.
“I barely knew these people and this made me realize I was in a good unit.”
Nichols is an inspiration to everyone in the unit, Walgren said. She manifests the highest ideals of being a Soldier – courage, spirit and a steadfast desire to win not only the nation's wars, but her own personal battle, he said.
“It's an honor as a chaplain to nurture and care for all of our Service Members who fight these
two-front wars,” Walgren said.
Nichols advised others facing major medical issues to reach out to their unit and tell them what you need.
“For me it’s the little things like telephone calls, written messages and getting the drill newsletter that helped me feel included and not forgotten,” Nichols said.
Nichols embodies the extraordinary resiliency that has carried so many other Arizona Guard members through extremely difficult hardships.
“This has been a journey that I never imagined I would be on, and it has taken me this time to truly learn what living day by day is,” Nichols said.
| Date Taken: | 10.22.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.26.2015 15:31 |
| Story ID: | 179960 |
| Location: | PHOENIX, AZ, US |
| Web Views: | 962 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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